Israeli Border Police officer Oriane Ben Kalifa, who was convicted last month of assaulting a Palestinian woman in Jerusalem in November 2021, was sentenced on Tuesday to a suspended term and a fine by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court. Ben Kalifa was found guilty of assaulting Hala Salim by pulling off her hijab, choking, and shaking her without provocation.
The case resulted from an incident at a checkpoint at the Lions’ Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City. Salim, together with her brother, arrived at the barrier and asked Ben Kalifa, who was stationed at the checkpoint, to be let through. Ben Kalifa refused and a physical altercation ensued, during which, the court determined, she used unauthorized physical force on Salim.
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The court ruled that Ben Kalifa must pay a fine of 4,000 shekels ($1,100) or face 40 days in prison, with an eight-month suspended sentence and four months of probation. Additionally, she was ordered to pay 2,000 shekels ($550) in compensation to Salim. Ben Kalifa expressed defiance, stating she had no intention of paying the fine.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir condemned the ruling on his Twitter account, writing that Judge Joya Skappa-Shapiro’s decision to sentence “a fighter who defended us all” is “outrageous” and proves that the judicial system is in need of “a real reform … and not a cosmetic reform.”
Ben Kalifa was also charged with obstructing justice but was acquitted, due to what the judge described as the Police Internal Investigations Department’s mishandling of the case.